Zambia on Sunday evening sweated to pick a point against northern neighbors Congo DR in the opening match of the 2015 Equatorial Guinea Africa Cup of Nations.
On a day the Leopards had the better statistics in terms of possession, shots on and off target, fouls conceded and bookings, here is how the Zambian players rated.
Kennedy Mweene 7 – The Mamelodi Sundowns shot stopper started off nervously. After 8 minutes, Mweene gifted Dieurmerci Mbokani with a spill of the ball but the Dynamo Kiev striker opted to send the ball skywards. However, by the 32nd minute Mweene had recovered his composure to deny Yannick Yala Bolasie with his feet when the tricky Crystal Palace winger cut inside from the right and on to his left and let fly.
Beaten by an excellent finish on 66 minutes by Bolasie.
Davies Nkausu 5 – Had a tough night. That Bolasie was the official Orange man of the match says all about the Chipolopolo right back’s performance. Probably, suffered due to lack of game time in South Africa. When he gave the wily winger with bags of trickery and pace, space, Bolasie threatened.
Emmanuel Mbola 6 – Undid his decent work in this match by being pick pocketed by substitute Cedrick Mabwati of Spanish club Osasuna who made the assist for Congolose equaliser. The Kinshasa born former Real Madrid youth player found Bolasie who finished with aplomb.
Mbola, bar for that moment of madness, defended very well. The fact that he is having game time at Hapoel Ra’nanana showed.
Kondwani Mtonga 6 – was quiet at the back but good in the air. The former Indian Hero Super League star played a routine match. Failed to track down Bolasie on the equaliser when his defence partner Sunzu was pulled out of position. Overall, not a bad Africa Cup debut in a makeshift position.
Pushed in his natural role after Sinkala was stretchered off and Chris Munthali slotting in central defence.
Stopilla Sunzu 7 – Man mountain who gave a big performance. Kept the dangerous Mbokani in the pocket. Sunzu Sniffing out danger, the Shanghai Shenua star was superior in aerial tussles and on the ground. Could have been unnerved when he picked a yellow card in the 31st minute hassling Mbokani in the back but was composed and gave a commanding defensive display.
Nathan Sinkala 7 – The Grasshoppers man played a glorious pass to Emmanuel Mayuka in the 54 minute after dispossessing Mbokani but the Southampton striker was adjudged offside-wrongly. Got stuck in and won most one on one challenges with Yousufu Mulumbu.
At some point, the Congolese captain took out Sinkala with a head butt as the West Bromwich Albion midfielder found Sinkala a tough cog to push over in the battle of the engine room. Extremely overworked as the rest of the Zambia midfield went on leave. Yellow carded with eight minutes left as a result and got injured to be replaced by Christopher Munthali two minutes from time.
Chisamba Lungu 6 – laid off Given Singuluma for Zambia to draw first blood. With a heavily bandaged hand, Lungu did not exert the sort of influence he is capable of playing on the right side of midfield. The Ural property was simply not creative enough to trouble Florent Ibenge’s side. Showed little of his customary flashy touches and had a tame effort gathered by Kidiaba four minutes after the equaliser. Sloppy at times.
Rainford Kalaba 7 – was lively early on. Took the game to the country of his employers. On the half hour, Kalaba danced and tied Issama Mpeko into some Rhumba knots before delivering into the area with Mayuka keeping his distance allowing Chancel Mbemba to head out the danger before Kidiaba plucked the ball from the sky. Largely, anonymous in the second period as Congo bossed possession.
Given Singuluma 7 – great effort to give Chipolopolo the lead after 62 seconds. Already, the fastest goal of the tournament. Struggled badly coming from the deep. Had only one other short on target. In future, he can be pushed further forward to partner Mayuka. Did not look fazed by the occasion.
Ronald Kampamba 5 – here was further evidence that the Nkana forward who scored the most goals-21-in all competitions by any Zambian anywhere last season must never be played as a number 10. He made a few touches but was very ineffective.
Kampamba is a fox in the box. Put pressure on keeper Kidiaba forcing the veteran Mazembe man to spill the ball in the path of Singuluma for Zambia’s goal. Those are the areas Sate loves to operate in. Replaced by midfielder Mukuka Mulenga after getting injured with a little over a quarter of an hour to play.
Emmanuel Mayuka 6 – Spearhead of Zambia’s attack . Long punts upfront to find the big man characterised Zambia’s play. Showed brilliant foot work at times but he was left to feed on crumbs in an attempt to add to his one goal since 2012! Only once did Mayuka use his pace to trouble the Congolese backline forcing Cedric Mongongou to concede a free kick which Kalaba took but Kidiaba fisted away-that was on 18 minutes.
With temperatures soaring to 30 degrees, the lad from England sweated profusely with his committed running that yielded zero returns on goal. Replaced by Evans Kangwa on 67 minutes.
Subs
Evans Kangwa 5 – was anonymous. Brought on to recreate the Evans-Sate combo. But the Hapoel Ra’nanana striker cut a forlorn figure upfront.
Mukuka Mulenga 6 – brought a bit of directness as Chipolopolo rallied in the closing stages looking for a clincher.
Christopher Munthali – too late for classification. But with Sinkala a doubt for Tunisia it was good the Power Dynamos defender made his bow. He may be required to start on Thursday.
Honour Janza 6 – Credit for starting his most experienced eleven yet albeit with a few players like Singuluma and Kampamba misplaced.
Zambia defended too deeply for comfort and soaked pressure through out. In fact, it was down to some Congolese profligate finishing that Chipolopolo escaped with a point.
Kampamba is not a number 10. If Janza does not trust the two time Zambian league top scorer with being the Number 9 then leave the boy on the bench.
A dysfunctional midfield should not have escaped Janza’s attention. However, a point is not a disastrous start.
[By ba Muzo]
Good analysis here. Janza has not carried enough midfielders. Felix katongo, fwayo and even Chris would have given us something in midfield. Janza has made a poor selection we are lacking 3 or 4 quality players. 1 centre back, 2 midfielders and a striker. Nevertheless let’s give Janza respect he isn’t a bad coach he knows what he is doing. I’m not happy with the comments coming out of people’s mouths. Janza has the potential to become one of zambia’s best local coaches leave him to work. He is doing Ok in my opinion. Zambia was not winning away he went to mozambique and won leave him to work
janza is a useless, useless coach who cant read a game . no wonder he played given in midfield. we scored from a fluke and played the most timid game ive ever seen. our midfeild was dead and he couldnt make proper changes. if we loose to tunisia we are doomed and out.
poor analysis, how do u give mayuka 6. what did he do.
Nice one ba MUZO , I like the emphasis on Kampamba ba mudala, @ John same here some of the comments coming from the highly respected bloggers has left me wondering. Only few like you, Paradox and others have given me courage to continue blogging. Thats why my predication still stands, we are remaining with 2 wins that will tally to 7 points
I think singuluma,Lubambo,mayuka to start front line
Midfield,Lungu,sautu,khondwani,
I just miss Nyambe Mulenga toooo much. He can play in all positions in the back 4 like bamudala ba Joze Musonda…..BIG LOSS IT IS.
As for the ratings, i think Mbola had a good game despite the costly mistake. This is the Mbola we saw in 2010
Who ever made this analysis was watching a different game from the one I was watching. The boys were below par in all departments. The coach had no clue what he was doing on the touchline. Useless performance I have ever seen.
Exclusive! Isaac Chansa has moved to indonesia he signed for A team called Mitra Kukar last week Tuesday
How can you give the coach Janza a rating of 6. This was the worst Afcon performance I have seen since we lost 1-5 to Cameroon in Ghana 2008. Janza should be fired immediately he touches down at KK airport. We are going nowhere if we keep him. His tactics can’t work even in the Zambian division 4. His 5-0-5 formation is a new innovation in football and he should go in the Guiness World Book of Records.
Our south African brothers look very fit,full of energy.Does anyone know if we still Have a physical trainer coz some of our players dont look fit
Yeah we don’t look very well conditioned I must agree.lets do this play with energy and pace caus it’s the zambian way. Let’s start with mtonga and sautu in midfield, kalaba wide and Musonda other side. Play mulenga is the hole as his direct and pacey mayuka can hold up and that’s it.we can’t be lethargic last last game. Sautu will give us a lot of energy need from centre mid then mtonga will give us height and defensive play. Muthalie centre back if not rotate Malama for mtonga. Mulenga will link up play well with Musonda and kalaba. Coach if you are reading this please take ideals and read the game properly next time don’t just seat there waiting for things to happened YOU GOT TO MAKE THEM HAPPENEF. Find ways to affect the game it doesn’t matter if it’s 39 minutes gone. Mulenga sautu and Musonda are our future and hope for the remainder of the tournament we need to play players in thete correct position straight up then build from there. With such energy and pass from these two I predict 2-1 zambia
That analysis is fake because sate sate did nothing to deserve a 5/10 he was supposed to be given a 1/10
Ati balekeni baleisa ,balanaka!Coaches!
Ba muzo in all fairness your analysis is very poor I know we all want to say good about our team but with exception of the back 4 the rest of the team deserves 3-4/10 while janza gets 1/10. it was surely the worst performance by a Zambian team in recent years. the only good thing is that we showed some grit and character to get a result in a game where we didn’t play at all and kept the dream alive
We all want the team to progress but its always wise to be objective and gauge ones strength and weaknesses properly.An objective SWOT analysis is the only way to improve and strategize effectively.This game exposed our tactical weaknesses as follows:
1.We defended too deep in front of our own goal,we were lucky Mweene was at the right spot all the time otherwise we could have conceeded more goals.
2.Our midfield lack creativity and is unable to provide the necessary feed for our strikers,Sate sate will not function effectively if he comes deep looking for the ball.
3.We lacked the height in the final third except for Mayuka and substituting him was a tactical error on the part of the coach.He is the only one who put some form of pressure on the tall Congolese defenders.
4.While we pressed very well when we lost the ball,we failed to hold the ball as a team when given possession .
5.The coach lacks any game plan with substitutions being made on impulse,Lubambo Musonda should have come on basing on the impact he had in the qualifiers after coming on as a substitute.After leading at half time,the coach should have consolidated the defence further by bringing Kondwani Mtonga in the midfield and Munthali earlier to help absorb the Congolese pressure because it was expected that DRC was going to search for that equalizer.
having said all this,we still have some measure of strength if properly applied:
1.Move Singuluma up from the midfield role to partner either Mayuka or Evans Kangwa.Sate Sate should be come from the bench if necessary.There is too much pressure being exerted on the lad!
2.Employ the 4.2.3.1 formation with kalaba,Chisamba and Lubambo playing just behind the top man who could be Singuluma or Mayuka/Kangwa,with Donasho and Kondwani playing just in front of Sunzu and Munthali.
3.Utilize our strength of speed on counter attacks using Lubambo and kalaba drifting from the midfield to the wings.We failed the counter attack option against DRC EVEN WHEN WE HAD THEM EXPOSED.
4.Avoid high balls and concentrante on our passing game.
My take is that we stand a chance to progress if we instill self belief in the young players.I still believe that if this team had only Chris katongo,Rogers Kola ,Jacob Mulenga,Felix katongo ,our options would have been better.In any case,we have got to do with what we have right now.We wish them VICTORY tomorrow.